


Stay on the Path

by TallulahBelle



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-02
Updated: 2012-06-02
Packaged: 2017-11-06 13:55:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/419646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TallulahBelle/pseuds/TallulahBelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My Mom told me to stay on the path while walking through the woods as it would be the quickest way to get to Grandmother. What she didn't warn me about was the things that lived there...or what I would find at Grandmother's house. </p><p>A retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay on the Path

**Author's Note:**

> Twilight belongs to SMeyer
> 
> Thank you to Cher for her generous spirit and beta expertise. 
> 
> This story is my gift to you who have taken the time to give selflessly to help those in need. Thank you for showing what the heart of this fandom can be. 
> 
> Dedicated to Violhaine.

Mom had told me to stay on the path to and from Grandmother Charlotte’s house on the other side of the woods. It would be the quickest way to get there, she said.

 I had never met my grandmother. She was my father’s mother and apparently lived in the richer part of town. I never knew that she existed until mom begged me to go to her to ask for some money for medicine.

 Mom was suffering from a cold that she got during the winter. She had said that she would be better after a few days, but those few days turned into a week, and then into several weeks. Now it was her third month and she was bed-ridden. She refused to see a doctor, saying how expensive it was and that we needed the money to pay for the rent of our small place. It was all she could afford after Dad died last year. He had made the bulk of our income, and the insurance money that was left us kept this small dilapidated roof over our heads.

 The fact that she asked me to visit my grandmother meant things were very serious.

 I grabbed my red jacket and put it on, flipping the hood up to keep my head warm. Mom called out one more warning to always stay on the path. It struck me as odd, but she never gave a warning like she did unless it was meant for my safety.

 The path was easy to follow, but a little scary, especially as I became engulfed by woods. They made me feel claustrophobic. Daylight was far behind me, and I was alone. The further I walked, the more the path meandered.

 I broke into a jog to hurry to the other side, not liking the feeling of being alone. When I saw the light become brighter, I relaxed from my run and resumed my walk.

  _Not so bad, just a few trees. Nothing to be so scared about._

 As the tree line diminished, a heavy rustling of leaves came from my right, scaring the shit out of me. It was somewhere back in the woods. Large branches swayed and I could have sworn that I saw multiple pairs of eyes trained on me from in between the tall grasses.

 It urged me to run the rest of the way out of the forest.

 -o-o-o-o-o-

 Grandmother’s place had been a palace. Not really- it was just a big house filled with all sorts of antiques that screamed “extreme wealth,” something that most museums would give a body part to have in their collection.

 A butler of all manner of things had answered the front door. His expression was pinched with disdain at my appearance, but after I explained who I was and had provided my temporary driver’s permit as proof, he allowed me to enter the foyer.

 My grandmother entered the foyer seconds later after the butler went to announce me.

 We looked each other over, trying to find the similarities to my father. While her hair was now pure silver, mine a deep brown, and we had different eye colors (hers an icy blue and mine brown), there was a likeness in our bone structures.

 She had been surprised to see me, and I had been surprised to find her very much the opposite of what I thought a grandmother should look like. She had to be in her seventies. I had previously thought, mentally calculating Dad’s age and mine, along with a sensible amount of time for when she might have been pregnant with him. Instead she appeared to be in her late forties or early fifties. She was also dressed in what could only be designer clothing. All of it looked amazing and fit her well. She _oozed_ glamour.

 Grandmother placed a cold hand covered in rings around my shoulder and led me to her sitting room so we could talk properly.

 I felt a bubble of laughter threaten to pass through my lips at the absurdity of the whole thing: grandmother, her _butler_ , and her house covered in an icing of scrolling decorations of the finest quality on Earth.

 Not to the mention it was a furnace.

 I removed my coat to stuff in my backpack that I brought with me, feeling overheated. The butler, who had answered the door, frowned at me. I guess I did something wrong and moved to sit near my grandmother on her dainty loveseat, placing myself much like she did so as to avoid any further disapproval.

 She expressed how happy she was that I had made contact with her and hoped that we could get to know each other. I kept silent even though I was dying to know why Dad never spoke about her. She seemed so happy that I didn’t have the stomach to break her heart with any possible insensitive questions. I needed to be in her good graces to help Mom.

 After many, many questions about my life, and having to reveal the sorrow of Dad’s death, I approached Mom’s illness as carefully as possible. I asked for what was needed and no more. I could live on canned soup just as long as Mom got better.

 Grandmother didn’t hesitate and gave me cash from her purse for the medicine plus a little extra.

 We spoke a little more, but I told her that I had to get to the pharmacy before it closed. She offered to have me driven there and home, but the thought of her knowing where we lived made me squirm. I declined her suggestion and rose to leave. She stood with me and requested that I kiss her cheek in parting. I did so and caught a whiff of her scent: Chanel Number Five.

 It was the same scent of the woman who ran the funeral home that had taken care of Dad’s burial. I couldn’t help but associate it with decomposed bodies and fought the urge to gag. I stepped away from grandmother and thanked her profusely for helping us. She waved her hand with bands of silver and diamonds on them as if it was nothing. All she asked was to be part of my life. I readily agreed and practically skipped out the door.

 It wasn’t until I was once again faced with having to travel through the forest that I remembered the eyes I had felt upon me. I gave myself a pep talk reminding myself that nothing more than rabbits lived in the woods. It wasn’t like they were going to mistake me for a carrot and attack me.

 Snickering at my whacked imagination of Bugs Bunny coming after me, I pulled my backpack, stuffed with my jacket popping out at the top and money for Mom, over my shoulder and began the trek home.

 The first part of the path was rather quiet. The trees were still; the plant life that covered both sides was still. The only sound was my breathing. I kept telling myself how silly I was being until I reached the halfway mark.

 Rustling leaves was the first sign that I wasn’t alone. I stopped and looked to my left for the source. Only a few leaves were spiraling in the air from a sudden breeze. I would have ignored it, but that feeling of eyes watching me was strong.

 Trying to break the tension, I called out jokingly. “Okay, Bugs, no games.”

 There was at first silence, and then the rustling started again, this time closer to me.

 I jumped in fright and walked faster along the path.

 The rustling continued to follow me. Bushes and grass were parting violently with each step I took. Textures of leaves turned into fur. Sounds of rustling became yips of wild animals.

 Scared beyond anything that I knew, I ran

 I could hear them running through the woods, the beating of their paws against the forest floor, crumbling, snapping, and tearing their way through the thicket to keep pace with me as I ran along the dirt path.

 Adrenaline pumped through my veins as my mother’s words of _stay on the_ _path_ became an ongoing cadence in my head, pushing, urging, and motivating me forward towards the open meadow beyond it.

 Spots of light became strands of light. Strands became thick planks of deep apricot light. Rounding the last corner I was greeted with the rays of the last of the day’s pure golden sunlight, staking its claim before the violet cloak of night enshrouded it.

 Relief sparked within as I pumped, pumped, _pumped_ my legs to go faster, feeding off the last of the adrenaline. With mere steps away to safety, a wolf, the color of fallen autumn leaves, came to a skittering halt in a small clearing near the path between me and the edge of the woods.

 I stopped abruptly in shock, my limbs wind milling.

 The wolf pawed at the earth, trying to reach the path, trying to reach _me._

 “Always stay on the path.” Mom’s words wound through my thoughts as I watched the wolf work to break past whatever barrier the path held for it.

 Between digging into the moist, dark ground and a series of noises that sounded like whines and barking, he fastened his green eyes on me. Eyes held mine for spaces of time that bound us more than physical touch. The growls became more urgent, and the whines turned into an echo of a voice in my mind as green and brown stayed fixed upon each other.

 “Stay!”

 “Mine!”

 “Yours!”

 Was that the wolf’s voice? How was that possible? Was it a trick?

 The words repeated again in what sounded like a rich melodic voice, this time in a more gentle tone as if trying to weave them into every cell of my being. I felt as if I was at sea as I swayed with the words towards the owner who was pacing at the edge of the path.

 “Stay…mine…yours…”

 “How?” I whispered taking another step closer, curiosity overcoming fear.

 He sat and waited for me to come to him, which I willing did, arm raised as if to give it to a lover in acceptance. I was almost there, when I heard the thwack of tree limbs to my left and broke eye contact. Some of the other wolves had come up behind the Russet Wolf, staring at me.

 Remembering where I was, I looked down, startled to see that I only had to take another step and I would be off the path. I jerked my hand back to me as if it had been burned and quickly moved back to the center of the path. The Russet Wolf was agitated and started calling to me.

 Scared of what I had almost done, I ran towards the meadow and back to safety, back to home and to Mom, hoping to find that this was just a figment of my imagination.

 Except that I didn’t think it was as I heard the mournful cry of a wolf sound behind me, its cry ripping through my chest with its heartbreak.

**-o-o-o-o-**

 “Bella, is that you?” Mom called weakly before giving into a hacking cough.

 “Yeah, it’s me,” I said, still catching my breath as I dropped my backpack by the door.

 “Did your grandmother give you the money?”

 “Yes, I have your medicine,” I replied, moving into the kitchenette to get a spoon and put the kettle on for boil before entering the small bedroom.

 Mom looked even paler than before I went to plead with Grandmother Charlotte for help.

 “Here you go,” I said, trying to keep my attitude as cheerful as possible. I didn’t want her to see how scared I was for her condition.

 I helped her to sit up and poured the thick liquid onto the spoon. Mom dutifully took it without a grimace and lay back exhausted afterwards, closing her eyes, ready to sleep.

 “Get some rest.”

 As soon as I left her room, I let my guard down and fell into one of the cracked, dull yellow chairs at our small table, resting my head on my folded arms. I felt drained, but at the same time totally electrified. Thinking back on my morning, it was like I had watched someone else live it. It was just too weird to even contemplate my experience with the wolves. More like, one wolf in particular that behaved in a manner similar to a trained pet.

 “I think I’m losing my mind,” I mumbled to no one in particular, rubbing my temple with my fingers as if to try to ease the strange thoughts away.

 Except that I’m pretty sane and not so imaginative about these sorts of things. Even Mom told me about them, told me to stay on the path as it was safer and would come to no harm. Did she know of them? Is that why she warned me?

 I peeked into her room to see her sleeping somewhat peacefully. Her breath rattled with the deep cold in her chest, but at least she was resting. I was curious to know what she meant by her warning, but her health meant more. It could wait as I had no intention of taking the path again anytime soon.

 Turning back to the kitchenette, I fixed a cup of tea and pulled my bag from the door to start my weekend’s homework. I reached inside to pull out my books and noticed that my favorite red jacket that I’d stashed in my bag was missing.

 Annoyed, I looked around the table, the door, and even outside to see if I had dropped it somewhere. I stuffed it in my bag when I got to Grandmother’s house as she had the heat blasting. Maybe it was there. I’d call to see if maybe I could get it tomorrow after school _or_ if I was really lucky, but truly not a hope in hell, one of her servants would be kind enough to drop it off here.

 Reaching for the old phone attached to the wall, I quickly dialed her number, hoping that it would be her butler that would answer the call. I didn’t know if I could deal with another round of grilling from her. As luck would have it, the butler _did_ answer, but of course my luck ran out, and my jacket wasn’t there. I thanked him and then ended the call to start pacing on the small patch of linoleum near the table.

  _Shit and double shit!_

  _Maybe I left it at the pharmacy?_

_Yeah, that has to be it. My bag had been open, and it may have fallen out while I was there._

 It was too late to go running around in this neighborhood. I’d just have to check tomorrow morning before school and try to think positively that it was waiting for me there.

 Shaking out my hands and rolling my head, I tried to not think about it as I still had another hour of homework that needed my attention.

 -o-o-o-o-

 It wasn’t at the pharmacy, or anywhere along the way to and from the apartment.

 The sun was still trying to decide whether it was going to make a full appearance today or stay behind its cloudy comforter. I had to wear my lighter weight green jacket that did nothing to keep me warm on a cool morning.

 I was trying not to get upset over the loss, but it was my last gift from Dad before he passed about a year and a half ago. I was stupidly sentimental about that jacket, kind of like Linus and his blanket from The Peanuts. It was my security in all this mess with Mom. It felt like I had some part of him with me as long as I had that jacket.

 I scrubbed at my eyes, feeling the stupid tears start.

 “It’s just a fucking jacket,” I scolded myself. “There are worse things happening in your life, and crying over a jacket is plain stupid.”

 Looking up from the sidewalk, I saw that I was next to the meadow that led to the woods. My heart gave an unsteady beat of fear thinking that my jacket could be somewhere in there. I really didn’t want to go back into the forest, but maybe, _just_ maybe, if I were quick and quiet, I could slip in and out without alerting anyone…or anything.

 My feet were already treading across the stalks of flowers before I finished my thought.

-o-o-o-o-

 ;. There was a light mist near the ground with the sound of the occasional drip of dew from the leaves. The tall trees looked as if they were still asleep at this hour as the sunlight barely reached their roots. It was eerie to say the least, but it would all be worth it if my jacket was here.

 I watched where I was stepping to keep the noise to a minimum. Everything seemed asleep, including the birds, but I was taking no chances.

 Several steps in, there was still no sign of my jacket. It wasn’t like it could hide in all this green and brown. I had _stayed_ on the path. Maybe it _was_ at Grandmother’s, and the butler had no clue. Except that I knew that I was lying to myself. Her place was all pastels and immaculate. Bright red would be like a homing beacon among her frou-frou décor.

 My eyes were becoming accustomed to the morning gloom, but there was no sign of anything red. Even when I came across the small opening where I last saw the wolf and eventually the first turn in the path, there was nothing.

 Tired, frustrated, and ready to cry once again, I turned to go back but caught a flash of something bright red, tucked away between some of the dense foliage that stopped me. Stepping to the edge of the path, I parted the lower branches and saw my jacket on the ground a few feet into the woods.

 The sweet feeling of relief was short lived as Mom’s words hit me.

_Always stay on the path._

_It’s right there, and it will be quick. Nothing will happen._

 I looked around for some sign of the wolves or any other danger before I took a tentative step off the path. I kept my eyes and ears open for any changes around me as I kept walking towards my jacket. It took me exactly twelve steps to get there, and I felt like letting out a whoop in achievement the moment I scooped it up from the leave-strewn floor.

 Ecstatic, I turned around to head back and found my way blocked by the Russet Wolf.

 My blood turned to ice, diminishing whatever victory I had felt and replaced it with absolute fear.

 I wrapped the jacket over my arm and tried to take a step forward left, hoping that it wouldn’t stop me, that it was only curious about me.

 “I mean no harm. I just needed my jacket,” I explained calmly as I stepped, only to stop a second later as the wolf moved with me, blocking me once again.

 “Please, I need to go,” I said, hoping that it couldn’t hear how scared I was as I attempted to step towards the path for a second time.

 Again he moved to block me, getting closer.

 “Please…” I managed to say, feeling the tremble of my lips.

 The wolf gave out a series of small barks. I heard the rustle of leaves from behind me. I took a look to the side and saw more wolves in different colors and sizes. I turned to look to the other side of me and saw even more. I was sure they were even behind me as well, surrounding me.

 Was I their meal?

 I focused on the Russet Wolf who had moved to stand not two feet away from me, scaring me into a startled scream. I slapped my hand over my mouth and tried to keep still, but I was too scared. I was shaking violently and gasped for breath, unable to get enough air into my lungs.

 The wolf took another step, enough to feel the heat radiating off his body, and I completely lost it. Panicked, I ran past him without thought except that I had to get back to the path. Immediately barks went up as I felt them converge on me, working to herd me away from escaping.

 Large bodies of colors of white, black, brown, and russet whirled around me, making me dizzy.

 “No…please!” I cried, hearing the drumming of my heart overtake the barking as the wolves pushed against my legs.

 Ice became suffocating heat as fur twirled and pressed, twirled and pressed until I felt my body leave the earth like I was being sucked up into a cyclone. Time stopped for a split second as I hovered over the earth below me, feeling out of my body, and watched the carousel of colors continue to revolve at a speed so fast that it was almost a blur. Then time unfroze and I was falling fast toward the ground, hitting it hard.

 Graciously, darkness swallowed me whole.

-o-o-o-o-o-

 Floating in soothing warmth, which I didn’t want to ever leave, I was gently carried me back to wakefulness. A kaleidoscope of light danced behind my closed eyes but didn’t want to open them just yet. I felt safe and without worry here, but I knew that I had to get up to see to Mom. She needed me to help her get bathed and have breakfast.

 Opening my eyes, I was greeted with the sight of the trees looming above me and remembered my last waking thought.

 “Oh God!” I cried, sitting up to find not the wolves, but a man, a beautiful young naked man with darkish red hair and piercing green eyes lying next to me.

 “Don’t be afraid,” he said moving the back of his hand to caress the side of my face, as he moved to sit up next to me.

 Stunned, I tried to speak, but I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth. My brain was trying to make sense of what my eyes were seeing.

 “Be easy, my mate. We mean you no harm,” he said, cooing as he moved closer to me.

 I looked around and saw two wolves, a small darker one and a larger, lighter one, cuddled together, watching us a few feet away.

 “Why…who? Mate?” I asked turning back to the man, who was sitting next to me… _still_ uncovered and making me nervous.

 “Yes,” he smiled, making me breathless with his beauty as he continued to caress my cheek with his fingers; studying me as if I were something priceless. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

 This was insane. Completely, one hundred percent _insane_.

 I shook my head, dislodging his touch and quickly scooted back from him across the moist dirt. I looked to my left and saw that the two wolves had raised their heads, attentive to my movements. I turned back to the man, who had maneuvered into a crouch, placing his weight on his sinewy arms, something like a wolf might do when standing on all fours.

 I glanced again at the color of hair on his head to the color of his eyes and thought more insane thoughts that this man was the Russet Wolf, but made flesh.

 “You’re the russet wolf, aren’t you?” I asked with a slightly hysterical laugh, pulling my body into a ball.

 He looked at me with a frown.

 “My mate?”

 “Stop it! Why are you calling me that?” I yelled, startling the other two wolves into action.

 The smaller black one came trotting over to me as the bigger one went to go stand by the man, nudging him with his nose. I froze, uncertain as to what was they were doing. I tried backing away, but was blocked by the massive, rotted trunk of an old tree.

 “Alice?” the man pleaded to the black wolf next to me.

 The black wolf, or Alice, looked to the man, giving a soft bark before facing me. The air around her shimmered and warped until the wolf disappeared, and I found myself face to face with a familiar, lovely young woman with long dark hair and ivory skin.

 “Hello,” she said, giving me a shy smile.

 “Hi?” I responded automatically, astounded by what just happened.

 She slowly reached forward and ran her fingers through my hair, bringing it to her nose. She breathed of it deeply and looked back up at me with a large smile.

 “You are my kin,” she said happily. “You are Charles’ child.”

 “How did you know my father’s name?”

 The fear was back. I didn’t know how this wolf-girl knew, but it was frightening. All of what had transpired was more than anything I’d ever encountered in my life. This was all so illogical.

 “Do not fear, dear one,” she said moving closer to press her warmer-than-normal, nude body next to mine as if comforting a small child. “Charles is my brother. I sensed the call of his blood.”

 A memory of a photograph that Dad carried with him in his wallet came to mind. It was a picture of a dark-haired girl in a yellow dress, smiling for the camera. Dad had said that was his sister. When I pressed for more details, fascinated by the pretty girl, he told me that she was gone. I had taken that to mean dead and asked no more as it caused him to be sad. I would occasionally sneak peeks at her picture as a kid…but here she was, in front of me, like I conjured her from a profound wish.

 “What is your name?” she asked, placing her head against my shoulder.

 “Isabella… _Bella_. I go by Bella.”

 She laughed in delight and rolled her head to look up at me. “Charles remembered! It was my favorite girl’s name.”

 “Alice?” the young man spoke to get her attention.

 I looked over to find that the handsome man with green eyes had moved closer to us. I blushed at his lack of modesty and tried to focus my gaze at anywhere but _him_. It was all too much. He was too much. Too beautiful.

 “This is Edward,” Alice whispered, gently taking my hand and holding it out to him. “He wants to know you. You are his mate.”

  _There was that word again: mate._

 “Alice?” I pressed again for answers but I was gently shushed as Edward moved forward, still on his hands and knees, and placed his nose on the top of my hand. He sniffed it and then gave it a small lick with his tongue, keeping his eyes on mine as if to see if I was okay with his actions. I didn’t move an inch, finding myself fascinated as well as baffled.

 “Bella,” he whispered in reverence, moving to sit on my other side.

 The heat radiating off their bodies kept the cold of the early Spring day at bay, but I still shivered at their closeness. I knew nothing about their intentions other than being referred to as Edward’s mate and Alice being my father’s sister. Wasn’t this the sort of weird twisted thing you find in dreams? It would explain everything if it was, and then all I had to do was wake up from it. Right?

  _Wrong._

 Everything felt real.

 “We’ll spend more time together later, Bella.” Alice brushed my hair away from my shoulder and smoothed it onto my back.

_See, real._

 “For now, I think it’s best for you and Edward to be together,” was all she said with a gentle smile before the air turned and she was once again in wolf form. I watched her trot away to join the other wolf, which had kept at a distance this entire time, and walked into the woods.

 Clearing my throat, I twisted my face to Edward, whose very naked body was pressed up against the right side of mine, feeding it warmth in the cold. His eyes roamed curiously over my face, taking in every detail. Soon his hand followed, traveling the same path with quiet touches. I held still, feeling like I shouldn’t breathe in case it triggered something animalistic or violent in him. His study of me continued with him running his hands through my long hair, which he brought to his nose the same way that Alice had done but awhile ago. Unlike Alice’s happy reaction, his was blissful in a different way.

 “Edward,” I cleared my throat. Feeling uncertain and overwhelmed by his attention, I needed some space and some answers before he got too carried away.

 He brought his gaze back to mine, intense with need for me.

 I had to look away, so affected by what he was showing me through eyes and touch. It was a different kind of fear, born of lack of first-hand knowledge. Bluntly, I was a virgin. Of course I knew about the semantics of sex. There was the class we had to take our freshman year of high school a few years ago, and what I didn’t learn there, I gained through gossip between the other kids or the media. It was the physical act that I didn’t know.

 Or the flip-flop sensations that went with it.

 He leaned towards me again, placing his face in the spot between my neck and shoulder, breathing me in and tasting with his lips the exposed skin.

 “I need you to stop,” I gasped at the ticklish pleasure he was creating, shrugging away from him as I pushed on his shoulders. “Please, this is too much.”

 “I’m sorry. I’m so used to being a wolf that I have to remember being human is more complex,” he replied.

 “Would you mind covering yourself?” I asked shyly, keeping my eyes level with his as I pulled my red jacket from my side and handed it him.

 He nodded and took the offered garment to drape over his lap, leaving his chest, arms, and most of his legs bare, but it was a start. I started at the bright colored jacket, thinking how it was the thing that got me into this mess.

 “Bella, will you talk with me?” Edward asked, his green eyes hopeful.

 “Ah, sure…ah, I guess.”

 He smiled as if I had given him a special gift. He edged his hand on the ground closer to me, wanting to resume touching me. I gave him my hand, letting him twine my fingers with his, which elicited a wider smile that brighten his handsome features, knocking me breathless.

I shook my head to clear it and fumbled into one of the dumbest questions I could ask: “So, you’re a wolf?”

 “Yes,” he smiled, moving his thumb so subtly across the back of my hand.

 “But you’re also human. So what are you?”

 “Your stories call us werewolves, but we’re not the savage beasts they make us out to be.”

 “Okay,” I responded not knowing what to do with that answer. I had visions of horror films flickering through my head of the “savage beasts” that Edward called them.

 “Be easy, my mate,” he said, releasing my hand and placing it against my cheek.

 “Mate?” I questioned, getting back to the one thing that sounded so foreign.

 “Yes, we came for you because you were ready.”

 “Ready? Ready for what? I really need you to explain what this mate thing is because it sounds barbaric! Oh god, you’re not going to pee on me, are you?” I all but shouted, trying to put space between us, thinking of the more disturbing practices I’ve heard when it came to sex, but Edward wouldn’t give me anything past an inch.

 “What? No, that’s only for marking our land,” he said, giving a look of distaste. “My scent will be on you, now that you’re of mating age.”

 “So it’s something physical?” I was still confused.

 He tried to pull me closer, so that he could hold me, but I still was not having that and held firm in my place.

 “Please, Bella,” he pleaded softly. “I’ve been waiting for you for so long, someone who was meant to be mine. When I saw you yesterday, it was probably the happiest day of my life.”

 His voice started a tremble within my heart, making me feel terrible. He was lonely. _I_ was lonely for that matter. I had so much responsibility and not enough affection or something to truly call my own. After Dad died, it was like I was without an anchor. It was the same for Mom, but worse. She let herself float far out to sea and was waiting for the wave that would pull her under to reunite her with her husband. It was hard to watch, knowing that her illness was caused by a broken heart. I didn’t want to suffer like that, giving everything over to love only to have it break you. I couldn’t do this- whatever this thing was- as I didn’t know that I had the strength for it. Edward’s feelings scared me as they gave me hope for something that felt intangible, something that had no place in my current duty to my Mom.

 “Edward, you’re very sweet,” I started, placing my hand on his cheek. Green eyes locked on mine. “You shouldn’t place all your happiness on me or anyone. I don’t think I can give you what you need. Maybe I’m just the first girl that you’ve seen in a long time, but there are so many more that would be thrilled to have you.”

 He gave out a sad whine and shook his head furiously. He moved his arms to encircle me, but I stopped him with my hands on his warm chest.

 “Please listen, Edward. I can’t be what you are seeking. I can’t give you the relationship that you want. I think you’ll find someone else-”

 “ _No!_ There is no one else. We have only one mate. _One_. I knew it the moment I saw you that you were mine.”

 His face was a mask of anguish that tore another piece of my heart.

 “Edward, I can’t be yours.”

 He gave out a series of wounded sounds, closer to his wolf side than human, yet again trying to bring my body to his. I firmly pushed him away and moved out of reach. Edward’s face crumpled in misery, no longer holding back his pain.

 I took a glance over to where I though the path might lie, and was grateful to see it was only a handful of feet away.  Turning back to Edward, I saw that a few of the wolves had returned, including Alice. All of them watched us from a respectful distance.

 Crouching as carefully as possible, I picked up my red jacket from the ground near Edward’s feet. He watched me for any sign of acceptance through his tears. My heart ripped in half at his agony, but it was for the best. An ordinary girl like me could not mix with something so mythic in all forms, especially love.

 “I’m sorry,” I whispered as I took a step back to my world.

 He fell to the scattered-leaf floor and gave into his pain. A few of the wolves went to him as if to offer comfort, while Alice came to me. I dropped to a knee in front of her so that we were eye to eye.

 “I’m sorry, Alice. Mom needs me. Dad…Charles died not that long ago. She’s all that I have and I’m all that she has. I can’t leave her,” I explained quietly, feeling my own tears rolling down my cheeks.

 I hated causing so much pain, but Mom had to come first.

 She gave a small whine in sadness at my news of the passing of my dad and licked my cheek almost if she said that she understood my reasons to leave.

 I stood and took one last look at Edward who was lying on the ground, peeking at me as sobs wracked his lean body. The wolves were indeed attending to him and would hopefully be able to help him find peace.

 “I’m truly sorry…”

 With one last look, I turned and ran back to the small apartment.

 -o-o-o-o-o-

 It was close to one in the afternoon when I walked in the door, not even caring if I was supposed to be at school. My brain wouldn’t shut off from everything surreal that happened in the woods. Surreal wasn’t even the word for the experience. I didn’t think there was one.

 “Bella?”

 “Yes, it’s me,” I said, automatically walking into Mom’s bedroom. I didn’t have time to think about anything else except for her health.

 Still weak looking, she motioned me to the bed. I obligingly went to her and sat on the edge, placing the back of my hand on her forehead to feel for a fever. She was clammy, so I gave her another spoonful of her medication. After she took it, she fixed me with her pale, grey eyes.

 “The school called and said that you didn’t show.”

 “I-I…”

 “I told them you weren’t feeling well,” she said, patting my hand.

 “I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling ashamed.

 “Where were you?” she questioned. Her eyes closing as her energy had dwindled.

 “I needed…I lost, um, I misplaced my jacket.”

 Her forehead crinkled in concern, but then relaxed a moment later, only to snap back into place. She gazed at me once again, fighting illness and sleep. She knew how much my jacket meant to me.

 “Where was it?”

 “It was…in the woods,” I told her, unable to lie.

 She said nothing but watched me steadily as if she was searching for something. When it became too much, she released a yawn and grabbed my hand. Her eyes closed, but the strain was set in her expression.

 “Not on the path?”

 “No.”

 “Did you see them?”

 “Who?” I whispered, but I think she knew. Something in me told me that she knew everything.

 “The wolves,” she said simply.

 “Y-yes…yes, I did.”

 She squeezed my hand, and then it went slack as sleep pulled her away. I waited to see if she would rally her strength to continue the conversation, but she didn’t. Sleep held her fast without a sign of waking anytime soon.

 I quietly left her and went into the living room to see if I could find the same rest on the battered futon. I didn’t know if it would come with all energy of expectation running through my limbs. It took a few tosses and turns on the lumpy mattress, along with crowded memories that fought for dominance in my head, but sleep finally came.

 -o-o-o-o-o-

 I was startled awake by the sound of the phone ringing from the kitchenette. I jumped up from the couch to see that the late afternoon sun had bypassed us and went straight into a starless night.

 “Swan residence?” I answered, sounding out of breath. The last vestiges of my intense dream of wolves and trees were still curled in wispy tendrils around me, weighing down my tongue.

 “Your grandmother will visit with you tomorrow afternoon after school,” Grandmother Charlotte’s butler spoke in his clear, faux-cultured voice.

 “I get home at about three-thirty,” I said, unable to think of a single thing to get out of it. I really didn’t want her here, especially since the quality of our place was vastly different than her home.

 “We will be there promptly.”

 The phone line went dead before I could ask if they needed our address, but this was Grandmother…and her trained butler. I’m pretty sure that she had access to everything. It seemed unfair that someone like her had as much as she did when good people like my mom were barely making rent.

 One of Mom’s wracking coughs interrupted my thought tangents and sent me hurrying into her bedroom to find her leaning over her the side of her bed, fighting for breath.

 “Mom!” I cried. Her thin body was vibrating violently with each cough. I held her with one arm as I tried to get her medicine with the other. Somehow, I managed to get it in her and stayed holding her fragile frame against mine as the coughs quieted.

 “I’m okay,” she said hoarsely.

 Her body was limp against my side for a moment or two until she found what little strength she had and sat up, moving to rest against the headboard. Her hair was plastered against her forehead, and her hands shook as she helped to move the blanket over her lap. Once she was settled as comfortably as possible, she regarded me through droopy eyes.

 “Should we go to the hospital?” I asked for what seemed liked the millionth time in the past few months.

 “No,” she replied, her _only_ reply for the millionth and one time.

 I knew not to hope that she would agree. All I could do was watch her and wait, wishing for the medicine to work faster, fast enough that we could work to get our lives into a better situation.

 “The phone?” she asked with a wheeze in her voice.

 “Grandmother Charlotte is coming tomorrow when I get home from school.”

 “I had a feeling she might,” she managed to say with a hint of resolve before slurring her words and slumping against the headboard. Sleep was beckoning.

 “Mom?” I shook her hand lightly, wanting her to stay awake just a bit more. I doubted that she had eaten today.

 “Hmmm?”

 “Try to stay awake. I’m going to make us some soup-”

 Her mouth twisted like a petulant child faced with a food she didn’t like. I guess that was the closest I’d get to a _yes_ and made fast work of heating up a can of soup. She was still in the same position when I returned, and I gave her shoulder a little shake. Her eyes opened wide and gazed at me. I returned to my seat on the side of the bed and tried to get her to take as much of the soup as possible.

 Seven bites were all that she took before rejecting the spoon that I held up to her mouth.

 That was two less bites than the day before.

 “Mom, please…”

 “Sorry…maybe tomorrow,” she said, promising something that she didn’t intend to keep.

 I took the rest of the soup to the kitchenette and ate my own bowl of soup along with some stale saltines. As soon as I was finished, I went about a quick clean-up and a sponge bath for Mom. I had to wake her again, but she gave no fight to my administrations. She was too weak to do it herself and trusted me to keep it quick. With her ready to sleep the course of the night, I reached to turn off her bedside lamp when she whispered my name.

 “Yes?”

 “Come…lay down by me,” she invited, awkwardly patting the space beside her. I crawled to the empty side and moved close to her, offering my body heat as another form of warmth to her cold one.

 “Tell me about the wolves,” she asked.

 What should I tell her? That a beautiful Russet Wolf who was also a beautiful man claimed me as his mate? That Dad’s sister, Alice was actually alive but furrier?

 “Did you see her?” she pressed calmly.

 “Who?” I asked, matching her tone.

 “Alice.”

 An unknown cold settled over me, something like shock, but not as all-encompassing. Why was this now being addressed?

 “Yes, I saw her…I talked to her. Why now?”

 Mom turned her gaze to me and gave a sleepy smile. “Alice was gone before you came into our lives. It was best to let it rest. Her disappearance caused a lot of pain for your father and grandmother.”

 “I thought she was dead,” I said, hoping to hear more.

 She frowned deeply, closing her eyes for a second, and then opened them again to reveal so much pain that went beyond the physicality of her illness.

 “If you asked your grandmother, she would say yes.”

 I had been very uncomfortable around Grandmother. She was proper in appearance and manners, but there was the something behind the veil of her skin and bones that spoke of darkness, something that unsettled me more than any other person I had met in my eighteen years, something that whispered to me to run away and run away fast.

 “Your grandmother had plans for Alice. She was a great beauty, and your grandmother wanted her to marry well. She had the man picked out and the wedding date set. It was supposed to be a merger of two great families.”

 Mother stopped to give a small cough, turning her head away from me. I cuddled closer, hoping to keep her as warm as possible.

 “But Alice didn’t marry the man,” I said, more of a statement than a question. An image of the blondish wolf with Alice came to mind, giving me an ambiguous answer.

 “No… _no_ , your dad said that she started disappearing into the woods every other day, for a few hours, and then every day until she was practically gone from morning until evening. Your grandmother was furious and made Alice tell her where she had been. Alice confessed to meeting with another man who lived in the woods. She was locked in her room as your grandmother had her staff search for the man to put a stop to the affair.”

 “What about Dad?” I asked, wondering how he fit into the whole scheme.

 Mom smiled fondly, lost in one of her memories. “Charlie helped her escaped. They were very close. Alice was three years older and was more of a mother to him than a sister. It was he who had unlocked her door and helped her get to the woods. It was there that he met the wolves. Alice had told your dad that she was meant to be with them, that she had found her husband. She promised to return to the woods if he ever needed her, that she would know through a calling in their blood and would bring the wolves to assist.”

 “Did he ever see her again?”

 “No,” she said getting sleepier.

 “Mom?” I asked, not wanting her to stop yet as I had a burning need to know the rest, like why I didn’t meet Grandmother Charlotte until yesterday or hear about Alice before now…and about Edward. Was I more like Alice and meant to be part of her world? Mated to a wolf-husband?

 “Hm?”

 “Why are they here?”

 Her eyes were clear of all pain as she studied me for what felt like ages. She pushed away the long, loose strands of hair around me face, stroking me. It was like she was trying to memorize everything about me, and that scared me more than anything. It was as if she was saying goodbye.

 “Mom?” I asked, feeling the burn of the salty water behind my eyes.

 “Shhh…” she said, pulling my head down to her shoulder and continuing to caress me. “It’s alright. It’s alright sweetheart…I believe that the wolves are here because you called them.”

 “Is that why you sent me through the woods to grandmother’s house?”

 “Yes,” she said. “I had heard through a work friend about the sudden appearance of wolves and I had hoped.”

 I raised my head and looked down at her like she was crazy. Seriously, I could have been killed. What the hell was she thinking? She based her decisions on office gossip?

 “Don’t look at me that way. Your dad told me everything about what he remembered when he was fifteen. I had hoped that they were here for you, knowing that I wasn’t going to be much longer.”

 “Stop it!” I yelled, sitting up and curling my hands into tight fists at my sides. “You’re _not_ going to die! I got you the medicine to make you better! When you’re better we can move anywhere! I’ll graduate in May, and I can find a job to take care of us!”

 Mom was weakly reaching for me, her face a mask of pure sadness. “Bella, please stop. The medicine is giving me enough time to make sure your future is secure. We don’t have much time.”

 “We can do anything…” I finished lamely, letting out an uncontrollable sob as her words reached me.

 Mom was beyond sick; she was dying. On a gut level of pure instinct, I knew what was happening to her. I just refused to see it. I refused to believe that she wouldn’t be here to see me graduate from college, or even, high school. As much as I was still reeling from Dad’s death and loved him, Mom was my best friend and my rock.

 She took me in her arms once again to let me cry it all out and come to terms with our life. She hummed to me the song she used to sing to me as a child, which I so badly wanted to be right now. That was when we were whole as a family.

 “I had also sent you to your grandmother. She was the only living member of both mine and your dad’s family.”

 “I think I knew that when you sent me,” I managed to say before I was too choked with tears.

 We stayed that way until I had stopped crying. I moved to her side and rested my head on the same pillow, ready to go to sleep. I glanced at Mom, surprised to see her still awake. I laid there watching her, wondering what she was thinking as she watched me in turn.

 “What are you thinking?” she asked me first.

 “That this is all a bad dream.”

 “I wished it was, too,” she said, taking one of my hands between her clammy ones. “You’re going to have to be brave, sweetheart.”

 I nodded my head at her.

 “Alice and the wolves are here for you, too. If you don’t want to be with your grandmother, which I don’t blame you one bit, you can go with Alice.”

 I started to laugh uncontrollably, hearing my mother explain so calmly that I could go live with wolves. It was so preposterous!

 “Yes, and Edward and I will have puppies!” I said, giving into the delusion.

 “Edward?” she asked, squeezing my hand.

 “Nothing,” I amended quickly, all laughter gone.

  _Stupid, stupid, stupid moron!_

 “Who is Edward?” she pressed.

 “A wolf,” I confessed after a long silence.

 Mom said nothing, but squeezed my hand again to tell me that she was waiting for me to continue.

 “He was with Alice. He said that I was his mate,” I said with a chuckle.

 “You have quite a choice in front of you, sweetheart, but I can’t make it for you.”

 I said nothing as I lay with her on the bed. Soon, my eyes grew heavier and heavier until the weight of the day closed them for me.

 I slept and dreamt of twisted, dirt paths that led to nowhere and ones that led to large estate homes. I dreamt of tall trees and plush cushions. I dreamt of warm fur and cold diamonds.

 And I dreamt of green eyes.

-o-o-o-o-o-

 I begged Mom to let me stay home, but she made me go to school to “put me on routine.” I grumbled, not wanting to be away from her if our time together was limited. It hurt to walk out the door, putting foot in front of foot and acting as if my world wasn’t falling apart.

 Passing the meadow was equally hard. I saw fragments of the dirt path that led to the woods and thought of what it represented. My heart sped up in acknowledgement, even if I couldn’t say it with words.

 School was boring, and it pissed me off that the teachers were basically picking on me because of my absence yesterday. I wasn’t one of the rich kids, so I was easy game for them. My imagination drifted to living with Grandmother and arriving at school in a limo. _Then_ , all those assholes would leave me alone.

 My secret desire lasted briefly as I knew the price to pay to be in that situation and it made me ache.

 I was out the door like a shot after the last bell sounded. Mom needed seeing to, and I wanted a few minutes alone with her before Grandmother arrived. I felt like I had to make sure we both had our armor on before she walked through the door.

 Unfortunately, I didn’t get my wish.

 A black town car was parked in front of the apartment building, attracting the attention of our neighbors. Some of them were brave enough to stand in groups on the small patch of browning green between the concrete rows of walkways that served as front yards. The driver was a big man, dressed in a smart, black suit with matching sunglasses and leather gloves. He looked more like a secret agent or a bodyguard than a driver. Either way, his presence both scared and titillated the neighborhood.

 He gave me a brief nod as I walked to my door. I took a deep breath and then walked through, ready to deal with whatever Grandmother wanted from us.

 “Isabella, you are perfectly on time,” grandmother said with neither pleasure nor discontentment as I closed the door.

 “Good afternoon,” I replied politely, walking over to kiss her cheek as she had told me she preferred when I last saw her.

 She gave a very pleased smile as I pulled away. It was then that I saw her butler in our kitchenette, pouring tea into our best and second best cups. Mom was dressed casually as she rested on the couch with a blanket over her legs. Patches of purple were beneath her eyes and in the curve of her cheeks. She looked worse.

  _Be brave._

 I took a seat facing my grandmother on the edge of the middle of the sofa. I tried my best to arrange myself as properly as possible to keep this meeting peaceful. The tension in the room was thick.

 “Isabella, I was speaking with your mother about plans for you to come live with me,” Grandmother said, not bothering to ease into conversation with more trivial topics.

 “When?”

 “Tonight, if you like,” she said, placing one of her cold, bejeweled hands over mine with a small smile on her scarlet lips.

 “I can have us ready to go in an hour-”

 “No, child, just you.” she stopped me, giving my mom a sharpened look, but kept her smile in place.

 Before I could protest, the butler brought over the cups of tea and handed the best cup to Grandmother and then gave one to Mom. He politely asked if I would like a cup as well, though I knew by the look on his face that he could care less. I thanked him but declined, as I didn’t think that I could swallow anything. My throat was constricted with fear.

 “Where will Mom live?” I asked.

 Grandmother gave me a pitying look before she spoke the words that drove a knife into my heart.

 “Your mother only has a few more days,” she said as if Mom wasn’t in the room. “I think it’s better to come with me and take your rightful place that your father denied you.”

 There was a hint of anger behind her words, anger that was pointed at my father, which probably extended to my mother. Instead of giving in to my grandmother, I asked a question that broke her composure, letting me see behind her mask and into her purpose.

 “My place or do you mean Alice’s place?”

 Grandmother dropped her cup of tea, letting it shatter all over the floor as she reared back like an angry serpent preparing to strike.

 “Renee, what nonsense have you been telling her?” she asked, glaring over my shoulder at Mom.

 “Is that why we never met before now? Is that why Dad never talked about you? Was he worried that you would try to make me into what you wanted me to be? Is that why Alice ran away with wolves?”

 Grandmother stood from her chair, red with pure anger. “Do not speak to me that way. Your father and, and that stupid girl threw it all away. I worked to give them _everything_! The Swan family has been here for generations, and the name will not be sullied any further!” she seethed.

 Mom’s hands moved to hold mine, as if giving me strength and her blessing.

 “Maybe they did throw it all away for something better,” I replied, keeping my anger in check, even though I felt like matching this harpy scream for scream.

 She composed herself quickly, resuming her seat as the butler came to pick up the broken mug and moved it out of her way.

 “Isabella, I will forgive you for your ignorance for this one time, but let me be clear, young lady, that you will _never_ say such things to me again. Now, please go pack what you want to take with you; we are leaving in ten minutes.”

 I squeezed mom’s hand, needing to stay on course. Mom had given me free will to make my choice, she couldn’t speak for me.

 “Well, child?” Grandmother pressed, anger bubbling again, seeing that I made no move to do as she said.

 “I’m not going with you.”

 “Take her to the car,” Grandmother said coldly.

 I saw a swift movement out of the corner of my eye and turned in time to see the butler walking towards me with purpose. I moved to hold onto Mom, hugging her frail body to me. Strong hands gripped my upper arms painfully from behind, trying to pull me away from the embrace.

 “No!”I shouted, trying to press myself closer to Mom. She held me to her in return, pleading with Grandmother or the butler to stop hurting me.

 “Stop being difficult, Isabella. Your mother will be dead soon, and then where will you be? ”

 Grandmother’s words cut at me, leaving their wounds deep and bleeding. Her tone said that she could care less about Mom. I was a Swan through my father and important to whatever machination she had in mind for the family. I could see why Dad dropped all contact with his mother. I also understood why Alice ran to be with the wolves.

 The wolves were a family and took care of each other.

 If I had to leave Mom, I would want to be with those that would care about me. I didn’t completely comprehend all that they were, but I knew that there was love for family.

 I looked up into Mom’s eyes, and she stared back into mine. She nodded her head once and gave a small smile.

 “Go, be happy,” she whispered.

 “I love you,” I said, and with the next pull let the butler part me from my mom, seeing her arms outstretched with a look of pride in her eyes, pushing us back to the floor with me landing hard on the butler’s stomach. He released me on impact, giving me a short window to escape. I jumped up and ran out the door.

 The driver was slow to see the commotion, as he was surrounded by some of the neighborhood kids.

 I ran across the yard and just stepped onto the street when I heard Grandmother yell behind me.

 “Go get her!”

The driver pushed through the children and started after me. I ran knowing that this was going to be my only chance. If Grandmother’s men got me, I knew that she wouldn’t make the same mistakes as she made with my dad and Alice. I would be a prisoner.

 So I pumped, pumped, and _pumped_ my legs, running as if hell were behind me.

 The rapid tapping of shoes was not far behind me, telling me that they were close, so close to me. My only hope was to lose them in the woods.

 As the meadow appeared and I had to round the pavement to step onto the beginning of the dirt path, I looked behind me to see that the driver was three arm’s lengths behind and the limo was following directly behind him.

 I renewed my efforts, feeling exhausted, but too scared to stop.

 “God dammit, kid, we’re not going to hurt you!” the driver shouted directly behind me.

  _No, but your master is going to break my soul._

 I didn’t let up; I kept going, even as I entered the woods. I stayed on the path for a good twenty feet and then swerved into the thickest part, causing the driver to shout at me once again to stop.

  _Please Alice. Please Edward, come for me._

 The lower-lying branches and bushes threatened to trip me at any moment, but it was a yanking on the back of my shirt that landed me on my back on the forest floor. The sun was still out and shinning through the trees, just like the day before when I was with the wolves. Except this time, a dark bulk blocked it in the form of a man.

 “Are you done? You’re grandmother is waiting,” he said, out of breath with his hands on his knees.

 I sat up and ran my fingers through my tangled hair that was stuck to my neck with sweat, trying to breathe as well. I looked around for the wolves, hoping to catch a glimpse of one, but there was nothing.

 “Kid, we need to go. The news says that there are hungry wolves here. You don’t want to get eaten, do you?” He asked in a voice that was meant to scare me.

 They weren’t here. They left. It was my fault, too. I had hurt Edward, the beautiful boy that came for me because he claimed that I was his mate. I wouldn’t be surprised if Alice left as well after I told her that I needed to stay with my mom.

 It was my reward for not believing when I should have believed. The wolves had abandoned me.

 I didn’t have time to answer the driver; he pulled me roughly to my feet to and back to the path.

 “That hurts!” I cried, feeling his grip tightened on my arm.

 “You made me chase you, you stupid brat,” he said, not giving a shit about me.

 I saw the path ahead with flashes of my Grandmother’s cool, blue silk blouse and cream trousers. The butler was next to her, leading her along the path.

 “Jameson? Do you have her?” Grandmother called.

 “I’ve got her!” he called back, pulling me off-balance out of spite.

 “Ouch!” I yelled.

 “Shut up,” he whispered into my ear.

 The woods started to clear, leaving a direct route back to the path where Grandmother and her other henchman waited for me. All masks were off and their true natures revealed. Both were pissed that I had not followed orders.

 “You had to make this so hard,” Grandmother started, ready to begin her transformation of what I was to what she wanted me to be. “If you have been obedient, I would have let you have a car of your own, but now you’ll have to earn it.”

 With each sentence, we walked a step closer. With each step, I became less and less of the Bella Swan I was raised to be, and more the pawn that Grandmother Charlotte demanded. I would have no say, no freedom, nothing. I would become nothing.

 I resisted and stayed as the last few steps were all that was left. It hurt like a mother, as the driver’s grip on me pinched the nerves in my upper arm. Something in me went beyond the pain and anger. Something primitive that shouted its need to the world to be free from all confines.

 “Is this how you treated Alice or my father?” I shouted at her. “They had to earn your approval?”

 “ENOUGH!” she shouted, the serpent barring its poison soaked teeth just before it struck its victim.

 “I’d rather be with the wolves. At least they know what it is to love rather than own.”

 Grandmother stepped off the path with a hand raised to strike me. I had pushed her too far. I was outnumbered and without help. This would be my life from now on: pain and more pain until I submitted to the will of the snake with the scales in the pattern of human flesh.

 As if in slow motion, I saw her hand descend. Sharp prisms of rainbows glinted off her multiple rings, shimmering like omens deepening with dark plans.

 I braced for it, but it never came. The hand that held me fell away, and I was falling backwards.

 Time sped up, and I saw the fur of a blond wolf on top of the driver, pinning him.

 A howl went up, followed by another and then another until the woods were echoing with only the sound of them. I saw my grandmother look in fright at her driver with her hand still raised.

 I scrambled backwards out of reach as the black wolf, Alice, came to stand by me. I laughed in relief, happy to see that she didn’t abandon me.

 “Alice!” I said before hugging her. She pressed and nuzzled me before stepping away and looking back to where her mother stood. Just like I saw her do before, the air changed, and she was once again in human form, nude, standing proudly.

 “Mother, she has chosen. Go back to your world,” Alice said with authority.

 “Demon!” Grandmother screamed with her finger pointed at Alice. “Kill her!”

 The butler, who was a step behind her, reached into his jacket for a concealed gun and moved forward without a second thought about what he was doing.

 I reached up and grabbed Alice’s hand as she stayed in place without regard to her person. I tugged her down to me as the gun fired. A fast-moving whizzing sound flew over my head and logged into wood somewhere behind us. I held Alice in my arms as she held me. We were both shaking from shock from the loud noise of the gun.

 The butler readied to aim again, but more flashes of fur tackled him to the ground. Three of them were on him, all sinking their teeth into multiple areas of his body. He shrieked in pain, calling for help. The wolves showed no mercy and continued to maul, rip, and shred him until the screams stopped and all that I could see was red matted fur and starched white cotton.

 “Oh god…” I moaned, feeling sick at the sight of the silent bodies of the driver and the butler.

 Alice rocked me in her arms, hoping to calm me, when it should have been me calming her. Her own mother had ordered her death. How could someone be that sick?

 I looked up to see Grandmother shaking in shock. Splatters of red were on her clothes, her shaking hands pressed to her face. She stared at us, unseeingly. I had thought that I knew what it meant to go mad. God knows that I should have from all that I had experienced over the past few days, but this was true madness.

 Her glacier eyes were devoid of anything remotely living. They stared inward, seeing only the murky foulness that ran through her veins, the pollution of too many wrong choices.

“Grandmother?” I questioned, releasing Alice to stand before the shell of the woman who had been the instigator of our personal hells.

 She looked at me without recognition. Her lips moved with words that had no rhyme or rhythm. Hands pressed into her white-aged skin.

 “Grandmother?” I questioned again as I put my hand on her shoulder.

 The serpent returned and lashed out at me. I had no time to defend myself and felt freezing metal cut through my cheek. I screamed in pain, falling to my knees with my hand pressed to my face.

 Liquid ruby warmth flowed from me, matching the jacket I wore, onto my hand.

 In a haze, I saw that fur was taking up my total vision. I vaguely heard deep growls and the screams of someone without reason. I wanted to faint, to not hear what I was hearing.

 Shaking my head to clear it, I looked to see the wolves in a circle, surrounding a struggling figure that was screaming and screaming.

 Then it stopped.

 Everything went quiet. Not a scream. Not a growl. Not a whimper. Not a whisper of breath.

 Silence.

 Pure, awful and expecting silence.

 One by one, the wolves trotted away. Some came near me, but moved on to clean themselves or their mate. The blond one stepped over to Alice, who was still in human form, and laid before her in a submissive form with his belly exposed to her. He watched her expectantly, tail moving in insecurity.

 She looked at him sadly before nodding her head and rubbing his belly gently. He moved into a standing position, his tail wagging, and licked her all over her face. She in turn pressed herself into his fur, wanting comfort.

 A quiet woof sounded to my other side, and I twisted to see the Russet Wolf, Edward, standing near me. His fur was a mess and covered in blood. He woofed softly again, waiting for a sign from me to acknowledge his deed. I glanced over at the body of my grandmother and her two men.

 They were dead because of me.

 “Bella?” Alice called to me. I turned to face her. She was still cuddled against her mate.

 “This wasn’t your fault.”

 I nodded, accepting the words but not the comfort. I glanced back at the bodies, unsure what to do.

 A wet nose pressed into the top of my hand. Edward was lying near me, with his head on top of his paws, watching me with sad eyes. I placed my hand on top of his head and stroked it. His tail wagged in enthusiasm.

 “Thank you,” I whispered to him.

 All was still unclear about what repercussions this would bring me, Alice, the wolves, or my mother.

_Mom._

 Abruptly I stood and hurried to the path. Edward was at my side, jumping to get my attention. I kept walking until I reached it and hit a wall. I raised my hands and placed them against whatever I had run into, feeling an invisible, unyielding surface.

 “Why can’t I get through?” I asked, feeling my tears build in frustration.

  _Mom, I’m coming!_

 Strong arms came around my waist, pulling me back into a warm body, holding me gently.

 “Bella, you can’t go back,” Edward whispered near my ear.

 “My mom,” I sobbed, leaning into his warm, strong body.

 “I’m sorry,” he said, and he meant it. “You chose to be with us, and that means you will have the strengths we have and all the limitations as well. We are creatures of the forest and belong here. The path belongs to the outside world.”

 He lifted one of his hands and twined his fingers with mine that was pressed against the wall.

 “You have not lost all of your family. Alice will be with you; so will the others…and if you will have me, I will be yours,” he hesitated at the end, remembering my rejection of him.

 I could say nothing in return. My heart was too full of sadness, and I needed to let it run its course.

 We stayed in the same place, connected, until the sun started to dip. Edward led me away to reunite with Alice and the wolves as I gave one last look towards the meadow.

 They took me deep into the woods, deeper than what it appeared to be from the outside world. When I could walk no further, we stopped for the night in a clearing to rest. Alice and Edward had returned to their wolf form and stayed by me through the night.

 Sleep came quicker than I thought possible. Dreaming came even faster ,as if eager to impart the chaotic knowledge it cradled close to its chest while the world was awake. In sleep it gave forth images of my life before I had stepped foot on the path. Rapid pictures of happier times with my parents swam through my head, memories that had been tucked away during the sadness of losing one of them and the struggle to hold onto the other one.

 The images slowed to show the meadow beyond the forest, and I saw two figures, holding each other as they walked towards me. They were silhouetted against the large sun behind them, but as soon as they drew closer, I saw that it was my parents. They stepped close to the edge of the forest and smiled, showing all their love within it for me. They took one look at each other and then back at me. Mom gave a small wave in farewell and mouthed “be brave” while dad mouthed “I love you” before they walked back towards the sun.

 I woke to see the trees high above me, acting as a canopy to the tender rays of lighter blue of the morning. My heart was hurting and strangely feeling lighter at the same time. The dream of my parents was still clear in my mind, perhaps as a gift from them, letting me know that they were happy and wanted me to be as well.

 Turning to my side, I faced Edward who was watching me in the dim light. I reached out and combed my fingers through his soft fur in comfort. His green eyes, darkened from the dim light, showed infinite patience. It was all that I could ask for as I had no idea where to begin in this new life with the wolves. It could be days or weeks, maybe even years before I was truly acclimated. Nothing was certain in my newborn state.

 But if I was honest, I did know one thing without a doubt. It was that I had not truly lost my family. They were still very much here, only they had taken another form.

 As the sun climbed the sky to begin a new day, I locked eyes with my wolf and was grateful.

 Grateful that I had the Russet Wolf’s love.


End file.
